Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hearing aid, in particular a behind-the-ear hearing aid, with a housing to be worn behind an ear of a user, and with a receiver which, in order to transmit sound to the ear, is connected to a sound tube having a housing-side end on which a plug connector is arranged, the plug connector being connected releasably to the housing.
Such a hearing aid is described in published, European patent application EP 2 654 322 A2, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 9,204,228, for example.
A hearing aid usually has a housing with a number of microphones arranged therein for recording noises from the environment, and a receiver, that is to say a loudspeaker, by which the recorded noises are output, particularly in amplified form. In addition, an electrical circuit is usually present for processing the recorded noises before they are output via the receiver.
If the hearing aid is what is called a behind-the-ear hearing aid, the housing is worn by a user, that is to say a person wearing the hearing aid, usually behind the ear in relation to the viewing direction of the user. In such hearing aids, there are in principle two known variants as regards the positioning of the receiver. In a first variant, the receiver is accommodated and secured in the housing. In this case, the noises generated by the receiver are guided from the housing to or into the ear by what is called a sound tube, or simply a tube. The sound tube is basically a hose-like or channel-like hollow body, which is often connected releasably to the housing by a plug connector. By contrast, in a second variant, referred to as a receiver-in-canal behind-the-ear hearing aid, the receiver is fitted directly in the ear and is connected to the housing via a cable.
Depending on the extent of the hearing loss suffered by the user, the latter requires a receiver of a suitable performance class, that is to say with a defined output power, wherein receivers with a higher output power typically also have larger dimensions than receivers of a lower performance class. In particular, it is also possible that the extent of the hearing loss changes with time and replacement of the receiver is therefore necessary. Behind-the-ear hearing aids in which the receiver is accommodated in the housing offer more possibilities of choice than receiver-in-canal behind-the-ear hearing aids, since the choice of receiver in the latter is additionally limited by the size of the ear. However, replacement of the receiver in behind-the-ear hearing aids is often difficult, since the receiver is firmly connected to the housing and/or the housing is awkward to open in order to replace the receiver.